DURHAM, N.C. - Senior Juliet Bottorff earned ACC Performer of the Week honors Tuesday for her first place finish at the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational. GoDuke.com sat down with 2011 NCAA 10,000 meter champion to learn more about the Newark, Del., native.

GoDuke.com: What has been your proudest moment at Duke?Juliet Bottorff: Freshman year nationals, when we finished eighth. It was definitely, so far the most excited our team has ever been, and it was exciting to see all of us come together on that day. We were such a close knit team, and you could just tell we were all running for each other and to see that culminate in an eighth place finish, top 10 in the nation, we were really excited about that, especially with so many freshman and sophomores.

GoDuke.com: What is the most misunderstood thing about your sport?JB: Probably that it's not a sport, that its punishment. People are always like "what do you do? You just run?" There is so much more than just running. I can't tell you how many hours we spend with recovery, I mean the limits that we push our bodies to, we really have to take care of ourselves. I guess the biggest misconception is that it's truly a lifestyle, not a sport. You have to think about it all the time, you have to live like a runner. We don't get an off-season. We have to recover just as hard as we train. We spend a ton of time in the weight room. Yeah we are not doing heavy weights like some sports do but we do a lot of body weight, and its important because every single muscle in our body needs to be firing just right. One thing that can be slightly off is off for 70 miles a week that adds up. And sleep is really important.

GoDuke.com: What's your favorite food? JB: I love breakfast food. I think runners have a great appreciation of many foods, I love food, just in general, but if I had to pick a category I would pick breakfast foods. Waffles, pancakes with any kind of fruit or chocolate chips, or bagels and eggs. I love all of that stuff too.

GoDuke.com: What was your favorite part of being a Duke student-athlete?JB: Just being able to put Duke in the spotlight and represent Duke in so many ways. We are more in the public's eye, so it's a real honor to wear that Duke jersey and say I go to school here. And I also run here, and I lead a very balanced lifestyle. I take on a lot of responsibility, and that is what Duke is all about. There is a lot of honor and pride wearing that Duke jersey.

GoDuke.com: As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?JB: I've gone through so many things. I went through a lot of things. I don't think I ever wanted to be a ballet dancer or a superstar or anything. I went through an architect phase, I used to think that Frank Lloyd Wright was the coolest person ever; I thought that would be really cool. I definitely loved playing teacher when I was really little. That's probably one of the main things when I was really little. I thought that would be really cool.

GoDuke.com: How about now? What do you want to be now?JB: I am a neuroscience major and an economics minor, so I am still a little bit all over the place. I am tentatively planning on getting my PhD. I'm staying here for a 5th year in the MMS program so I kind of have this duel thing with business and research. I do want to get my PhD at some point, and then probably go into research at some point.

GoDuke.com: Who has been the biggest influence in your life?JB: I have a lot of people I could make shout outs to, but my biggest would be my parents. I can't even begin to say how much I appreciate everything they have done for me. I can't even begin to express in to words what they mean to me. They have always been there for me, always been super supportive, and they are my role models. I just think I have a great relationship with my parents.

GoDuke.com: If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do?JB: That is a good thought... I love to travel, so I guess I would travel the world. Everywhere. Europe is way up there. I have been to Poland, and that is it. And that was for running. I've never been on just a tour. I would make a big Europe trip with Greece and Italy, and I would have to go to London and Paris, so why not. I would spend a full year travelling. I would also like to make an Asia stop, Australia, South America. I would love to go see the rainforest.

GoDuke.com: Anything on the iPod that might be embarrassing?JB: YES! It is hard for me to get really embarrassed, because I kind of lost shame a long time ago. I just have everything on my iPod. Everyone makes fun of me, because I am like the only person on the team who runs with an iPod all of the time. And everyone kind of looks at me like "real runners don't run with iPods." And I have the big classic iPod. It's because I have so much music, and I don't like to pick and choose, so I put all my music on my classic. I have everything. I mean backstreet boys, Brittney spears, and I have some new stuff too, so it just depends on the day.

GoDuke.com: What is currently on the DVR? What's the best show on TV?JB: This is kind of embarrassing because I don't watch TV, almost at all. People don't really comprehend that. I have a lot of things that I would rather be doing with my time. The only reason I watch TV is as a social event. If a bunch of my friends are like "oh my god we have to watch this show" then I will sit and watch but I don't really pay attention.

GoDuke.com: What is one possession you can't live without?JB: I guess phone is pretty obvious. Or I could go with running shoes.